Little League investigating age of Bronx pitcher

Staff & Wire Reports

SOUTH WILLIAMSPORT, Pa. -- The national Little League is
investigating the age of Bronx pitcher Danny Almonte -- who threw a
1-hitter in the U.S. semifinals last week in eliminating Oceanside
from the World Series -- after being shown a document that
indicates he may have been too old to pitch.

The Rolando Paulino Little League insists that Almonte is 12,having been born on April 7, 1989, in Moca, Dominican Republic. ButLittle League World Series officials were shown an affidavit Mondayby a Sports Illustrated writer that indicated a Danny Almonte wasborn April 7, 1987 -- making him 14 -- in the same town, saidleague spokesman Lance Van Auken.

Little League rules prohibit any player born before Aug. 1,
1988, from competing this year.

Almonte was the winning pitcher Thursday when the Bronxeliminated the Oceanside American League All-Stars in the U.S.semifinal game 1-0. Almonte struck out 16 and gave up just onehit.

Glen Mills, president of Oceanside American Little League, said
there was no bitterness among his players.

"If (the allegation that Almonte was too old to pitch) is true,
Little League has to been lied to," Mills said. "But remember, it's
not the kid's fault. He has the talent, but it was exploited by
adults, and that's a shame."

"My heart really goes out to Danny Almonte. That kid has so much
pressure that none of us know. We can't even conceive what pressure
that kid has on him."

The hype surrounding the Oceanside-Bronx game -- including the
rumors about Almonte and the controversial second-base call that
may have cost Oceanside the game -- should reassure the All-Stars
that the team can hold its own in the toughest of circumstances,
Mills said.

"If this allegation is true, it only means we held our own
against a team that was stacked," he said. "With the age thing, and
the tough call, we still played a very even game. Heck, this
Oceanside team might be even better than we thought."

Little League parent Candi Szabo said Monday that the
controversy over the Bronx pitcher isn't surprising.

She and her husband, Dean, went to Williamsport, Pa., to watch
their son Wiley, 12, play for the Oceanside team. Parents there had
wondered about Almonte's age, she said.

"It's really unfortunate if we were to have lost it that way,"
Szabo said. "There was talk, there were rumors, and people
suspected it … but there was nothing we could do."

Oceanside All-Stars coach Daryl Wasano was traveling Monday and
could not be reached for comment.

Documents previously submitted to Little League by the Rolando
Paulino team to prove Almonte's eligibility showed him being born
to the same parents in the same town as indicated by the Sports
Illustrated-supplied document, but in 1989. Van Auken said Little
League also was faxed another document Monday afternoon that was
similar to the one obtained by Sports Illustrated but showing
Almonte being born in 1989.

"If this is the same Danny Almonte who played for Rolando
Paulino Little League, then we have been deceived, and a fraud has
been perpetrated on Little League and the millions of youngsters
for whom Little League is so important," said Little League Inc.
President Stephen Keener.

In a statement released Monday, Little League officials said
they contacted the Rolando Paulino league in the Bronx, N.Y., which
insisted all of its players were eligible and promised to provide
further documentation.

Rick McCabe, a Sports Illustrated spokesman, said the magazine
was "working on a Little League story" but would not comment
further until the story was ready for publication.

An official with the Rolando Paulino league questioned the new
document.

"Rolando, before it lets the kids into the league, it gets the
original birth certificate and a passport, because it doesn't want
these kinds of problems. This is a surprise to us," said Joann
Dalmau, a spokeswoman for the Rolando Paulino team.

"What more can we provide, if we have provided an original birth
certificate and a passport? Anything else is irrelevant. I don't
know what document they have, but they're wrong," she said.

If Almonte was found to be ineligible, the Bronx team could be
forced to forfeit its last win, the consolation game against
Curacao, Netherlands Antilles. Little League could even revoke the
Rolando Paulino league's charter.

But Van Auken said that given the documents in Little League's
possession, no immediate action would be taken.

"We have in our possession now the same type of documentation
that it appears Sports Illustrated has," Van Auken said. "The
document we have says 1989, the document they have says 1987, so as
far as we're concerned, the team is still the third-place team in
the World Series."

But he added that the investigation was continuing and Little
League officials might have to travel to the Dominican
Republic.

The team is scheduled to be honored with a parade in the Bronx
on Wednesday.

Almonte was the most dominating pitcher at the World Series this
year, throwing a perfect game in the opener against Apopka, Fla.
Almonte struck out the first 15 Apopka batters in the first perfect
game in 44 years at the tournament.

Almonte followed that with a one-hit shutout in the U.S.
semifinals against Oceanside, a team that came in averaging .333
with five batters at .500 or better.

He finished the tournament with 46 strikeouts, giving up only
three hits in three starts. A run scored in the last inning of his
final game was the only run scored on Almonte all summer.

"Anyone who could do to our team, to the Florida team, to the
California team what he did - I wanted to believe in my heart that
he was 12 because I was witnessing greatness on the level of a
Michael Jordan or a Tiger Woods," said Tom Heart, whose State
College, Pa., team was beaten by the Bronx in the Mid-Atlantic
Regional championship with Almonte pitching a no-hitter. "In my
heart, I felt I was witnessing something illegal, and he robbed my
kids of their dream."

Behind Almonte's pitching and a solid defense, the Bronx team
went 4-1 at the World Series and finished third. The team's only
loss was a rematch against Apopka in which Almonte couldn't pitch
because of a rule that prohibits pitchers from starting consecutive
games.

Almonte became a sensation after throwing 16 strikeouts in the
Mid-Altantic Regional championship against State College. His
perfect game only added to his reputation, and major leaguers Randy
Johnson and Ken Griffey Jr. both contacted Almonte to wish him
luck.

But rumors about Almonte's age plagued the team throughout the
tournament, and Little League coaches in Staten Island, N.Y., and
Pequannock, N.J., said they had hired private investigators to find
proof that Bronx players were ineligible, but to no avail.

"He certainly plays like he's older than his years, but I would
reserve comment until there's proof," Hart said. "If it's a bogus
document, then somebody needs held accountable for that they're
doing to this kid and this team. If it's true, my feelings would be
anger and frustration."

Little League officials said throughout that the Bronx team was
the most scrutinized team in the country and that they had seen
documents proving the players' ages and residency met Little League
requirements.

"Because of rumors reported to us, we did additional due
diligence and were shown U.S. and Dominican records confirming the
ages of the players on the Rolando Paulino team," Keener said.